Trescothick takes pride despite Somerset's unwanted hat-trick

Somerset 199 Warwickshire 200-7

When you've lost three competitions by the skin of your teeth, it's hard to be cheerful. Marcus Trescothick, though, was just about able to look on the bright side late on Saturday night after his Somerset team had completed a hat-trick of runners-up medals this summer, having lost the Clydesdale Bank 40 final by three wickets to Warwickshire.

"We're proud of what we've achieved as cricketers this season," he said. "We've been probably the most consistent team through the year, and we've put ourselves in a position to win three trophies. We could be talking about a completely different situation, but obviously we're not. But we can walk out of here with a lot of pride in what we've done."

Nonetheless, this defeat will be hard to bear – Trescothick admitted it was "gutting" – and not only because it meant Somerset completed the most unwanted of trebles. The reality was that, well as Warwickshire played, Somerset had put themselves in a position to win after losing the toss and batting first. Having reached 173 for 3 with 10 overs to go, however, they imploded.

An idiotic run-out – when Nick Compton called through James Hildreth for a run that was never there – destroyed a promising partnership and opened the door for Imran Tahir to produce one of the most remarkable bowling spells a Lord's final can ever have seen. He took five wickets in four overs for just 14 runs and, as quick as a flash, Somerset were all out for 199. It was never enough.

Ian Bell then hit 107 to guide Warwickshire home. It was an innings of great style and maturity, and as long as he was at the wicket Warwickshire were in charge. "I thought if we got Belly out, we had a real good chance," said Trescothick ruefully. "He showed the world-class player he is. He didn't give too many opportunities."

Indeed he didn't. He was bowled on a free hit and survived a close lbw appeal from Murali Kartik, but apart from that he had the measure of a fired-up Somerset attack. It was the sort of innings you expect from an England player and yesterday Bell was deservedly called-up by Andy Flower for the rest of the one-day series against Pakistan.

"In terms of one-day cricket, I probably haven't played any better than that," Bell said. "I enjoyed it. I tried to be, I wouldn't say aggressive but I was prepared to take risks.

"Andy Flower [the England coach] wants me to be scoring at over a run a ball in one-day cricket, which is what I've been doing for Warwickshire this season. That doesn't mean hitting the ball out of the park but it means taking the boundary when the field is up and playing sensibly. That's what I did."

Bell's innings culminated in taking 20 from the third-last over of the match, bowled by Mark Turner. What had looked like being a close finish in the first county final at Lord's under lights turned into a cakewalk, even if Bell departed with the job not quite done, caught in front of the Pavilion.

It would have been a far tighter thing, though, had Tahir not performed his miracle earlier. Having bowled four largely fruitless overs from the Nursery, Bell switched him to the Pavilion End and the Somerset middle and lower order crumbled.

"He's done it all season for us," said Bell. "I know we won't have him back next year, which is a massive disappointment for us and for our supporters. To come on and turn a game on its head like that – well, there's not many people in the world who can do that."

Just over 14,000 saw the match, a small crowd by Lord's final standards but far more than had been feared, given the short lead-up time to this final – the semi-finals took place only last week – and the fact that both groups of supporters faced tricky journeys home since the match finished after the last trains to their respective parts of the country had departed.

It would have been a particularly difficult homecoming for the vociferous Somerset fans, as Trescothick acknowledged. "They've had some good days out with us this year," he said. "I know they want to go one stage further, as we do. We've played some great cricket but we have to keep improving."

Lord's scoreboard

Lord's: Warwickshire beat Somerset by three wickets

Warwickshire won toss

SOMERSET

......... Runs......... 6s......... 4s......... Bls

*M E Trescothick c Woakes b Barker......... 21......... 0......... 3......... 17

†C Kieswetter c Barker b Carter......... 37......... 0......... 4......... 43

P D Trego c Clarke b Barker......... 11......... 0......... 2......... 16

N R D Compton lbw b Tahir......... 60......... 0......... 2......... 65

J C Hildreth run out......... 44......... 0......... 3......... 46

J C Buttler lbw b Tahir......... 0......... 0......... 0......... 2

A V Suppiah b Tahir......... 1......... 0......... 0......... 6

B J Phillips c Bell b Tahir......... 1......... 0......... 0......... 11

A C Thomas not out......... 6......... 0......... 0......... 10

M Kartik st Johnson b Tahir......... 3......... 0......... 0......... 3

M L Turner c Clarke b Carter......... 8......... 0......... 1......... 16

Extras (w 5, nb 2)......... 7

Total (39 overs)......... 199

Fall: 1-41, 2-62, 3-81, 4-176, 5-176, 6-178, 7-179, 8-180, 9-187, 10-199.

Bowling: N M Carter 6-0-40-2, C R Woakes 8-1-31-0, K H D Barker 7-0-33-2, A G Botha 8-0-39-0, M I Tahir 8-0-41-5, D L Maddy 2-0-15-0.

WARWICKSHIRE

......... Runs......... 6s......... 4s......... Bls

I J L Trott c Kieswetter b Phillips......... 17......... 0......... 2......... 35

N M Carter c Trego b Phillips......... 5......... 0......... 1......... 6

K H D Barker c Turner b Thomas......... 3......... 0......... 0......... 10

*I R Bell c Buttler b Thomas......... 107......... 0......... 12......... 95

J O Troughton c Kieswetter b Thomas......... 30......... 0......... 2......... 48

D L Maddy c Kartik b Turner......... 9......... 0......... 0......... 11

R Clarke c Hildreth b Trego......... 19......... 1......... 2......... 20

A G Botha not out......... 4......... 0......... 0......... 8

C R Woakes not out......... 1......... 0......... 0......... 2

Extras (b 1, lb 2, nb 2)......... 5

Total (7 wkts, 39 overs)......... 200

Fall: 1-12, 2-20, 3-39, 4-118, 5-135, 6-164, 7-199.

Did not bat: †R M Johnson, M I Tahir.

Bowling: A C Thomas 8-1-33-3, B J Phillips 8-0-24-2, M L Turner 7-0-71-1, M Kartik 8-0-27-0, P D Trego 7-0-36-1, A V Suppiah 1-0-6-0.

Umpires: P J Hartley & R A Kettleborough.